The meeting was held in the big conference room on the fourteenth floor. Morton’s four accountants were there; his assistant Sarah Jones; Herb Lowenstein, who did estate planning; a guy named Marty Bren, who did tax work for NERF, and Evans. Morton, who hated all financial meetings, paced restlessly.

“Let’s get to it,” he said. “I am supposedly giving ten million dollars to NERF, and we have signed papers, is that right?”

“Right,” Lowenstein said.

“But now they want to attach a rider to the agreement?”

“Right,” Marty Bren said. “It’s pretty standard boilerplate for them.” He shuffled through his papers. “Any charity wants to have full use of the money they receive, even when it is earmarked for a particular purpose. Maybe that purpose costs more or less than predicted, or it is delayed, or mired in litigation, or set aside for some other reason. In this case, the money has been earmarked for the Vanutu lawsuit, and the relevant phrase NERF wants to add is “said moneys to be used to defray the cost of the Vanutu litigation, including fees, filing, and copying costs…blah blah…or for other legal purposes, or for such other purposes as NERF shall see fit in its capacity as an environmental organization.”

Morton said, “That’s the phrase they want?”

“Boilerplate, as I said,” Bren said.

“It’s been in my previous donation agreements?”

“I don’t recall offhand.”

“Because,” Morton said, “it sounds to me like they want to be able to pull the plug on this lawsuit, and spend the money elsewhere.”

“Oh, I doubt that,” Herb said.

“Why?” Morton said. “Why else would they want this boilerplate? Look, we had a signed deal. Now they want a change. Why?”

“It’s not really a change,” Bren said.

“It sure as hell is, Marty.”

“If you look at the original agreement,” Bren said calmly, “it says that any money not spent on the lawsuit goes to NERF for other purposes.”

“But that’s only if there’s money left after the lawsuit ends,” Morton said. “They can’t spend it on anything else until the suit is decided.”

“I think they imagine there may be long delays here.”

“Why should there be delays?” Morton turned to Evans. “Peter? What is going on over there in Culver City?”

“It looks like the suit is going forward,” Evans said. “They have a large operation. There must be forty people working on that one case. I don’t think they plan to give it up.”

“And are there problems with the suit?”

“There are certainly challenges,” Evans said. “It’s complicated litigation. They face strong opposing counsel. They’re working hard.”

“Why am I not convinced here?” Morton said. “Six months ago Nick Drake told me this damn lawsuit was a slam dunk and a great publicity opportunity, and now they want a bail-out clause.”

“Maybe we should ask Nick.”

“I got a better idea. Let’s audit NERF.”

Murmurs in the room. “I don’t think you have that right, George.”

“Make it part of the agreement.”

“I’m not sure you can do that.”

“They want a rider. I want a rider. What’s the difference?”

“I’m not sure you can audit their entire operation—”

“George,” Herb Lowenstein said. “You and Nick are friends of long standing. You’re their Concerned Citizen of the Year. Auditing them seems a little out of character for your relationship.”

“You mean it looks like I don’t trust them?”

“Put bluntly, yes.”

“I don’t.” Morton leaned on the table and looked at everyone sitting there. “You know what I think? They want to blow off the litigation and spend all the money on this conference on abrupt climate change that Nick is so excited about.”

“They don’t need ten million for a conference.”

“I don’t know what they need. He already misplaced two hundred and fifty thousand of my money. It ended up in fucking Vancouver. I don’t know what he is doing anymore.”

“Well, then you should withdraw your contribution.”

“Ah ah,” Marty Bren said. “Not so fast. I think they’ve already made financial commitments based on the reasonable expectation that the money was coming.”

“Then give them some amount, and forget the rest.”

“No,” Morton said. “I’m not going to withdraw the grant. Peter Evans here says the litigation is going forward, and I believe him. Nick says that the two hundred and fifty grand was a mistake, and I believe him. I want you to ask for an audit and I want to know what happens. I will be out of town for the next three weeks.”

“You will? Where?”

“I’m taking a trip.”

“But we’ll have to be able to reach you, George.”

“I may be unreachable. Call Sarah. Or have Peter here get in touch with me.”

“But George—”

“That’s it, guys. Talk to Nick, see what he says. We’ll be in contact soon.”

And he walked out of the room, with Sarah hurrying after him.

Lowenstein turned to the others. “What the hell was that all about?”